Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman: Endangered Species
Track
Endangered Species
Artist
Pat Metheny (guitar, guitar synth) and Ornette Coleman (alto sax)
CD
Song X
Musicians:
Pat Metheny (guitar, guitar synth), Ornette Coleman (alto sax), Charlie Haden (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums),
Denardo Coleman (drums, percussion)
.Composed by Ornette Coleman & Pat Metheny
.Recorded: New York, December 12-14, 1985
Rating: 94/100 (learn more)
The opening remark by Pat Metheny's Synclavier guitar and Ornette Coleman's alto sax is eerie and foreboding. When the rest of the band crashes in seconds later with Haden's rumbling bass and the double-barreled attack of DeJohnette's and Denardo's drums, the anticipated punch to the gut is realized. The strangeness of the song isn't the totally free and frantic way it's played. Rather, it lies in the sense that there is some method lurking beneath all that madness. While Metheny is making glorious noise on his axe, Coleman settles into his familiar harmolodic statements, acting as the eye of a violent storm.
"Endangered Species" is not some token nod to balls-out jazz meant to mollify Metheny critics; Metheny is fully invested in this song. And Coleman, reinvigorated.
Reviewer: S. Victor Aaron
If you liked this track, also check out
Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman: Song X
James Blood Ulmer: Revelation March
Pat Metheny: The Calling
Tags: 1980s jazz · alto sax · avant-garde · free jazz · guitar
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